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Drive to Take on Sauk Valley One More Time Saturday

March 8, 2012 - Premier Basketball League (PBL)
Central Illinois Drive News Release


Bloomington, IL, 3/8/12 - The Division Champion Central Illinois Drive, presented by Sonic, will play at the Sauk Valley Predators on Saturday at 6:30 pm. It is the fifth and final meeting between the two teams in the regular season. The Drive are 15-0 on the season and one win from tying the longest winning streak in PBL history. During the 2008-09 season the Rochester RazorSharks won 16 straight games. The Predators are 7-6 and in second place in the Central Division.

These two teams played last Sunday in Bloomington in one of the most exciting games of the season. The Drive won the game 118-107 but they were down for most of the game. Sauk Valley came out with a 16-1 run to start the game and kept building on it throughout the game. The Predators were up 20 points for much of the 1st half. Playing in his first game back from the IR, Daniel Ruffin was able to spark the Drive offense as they started the long climb back. After speeding up the game the Drive were able to tie the game late. Ruffin almost hit a basket at the buzzer but it would not go and the game was sent to overtime. Central Illinois dominated the extra period with score of 16-4. With the win the Drive clinched the Central Division title.

Now that the Drive have clinched the division there are only a couple things left to do during the regular season.

First of all they will want to try and take the top spot in the standings to get home court advantage in the playoffs. The Easter Division leading Rochester RazorSharks are 13-1 and will push the Drive for the top spot in the PBL. Also the Drive are undefeated so far. They have a real chance to complete a perfect regular season. Including Saturday the Drive have five games remaining. The teams they will face are the Sauk Valley Predators (7-6), Indiana Diesels(2-10), St. Louis Phoenix (3-8), and Chicago Muscle (7-7).

The Drive start a three game home stand Saturday March 17 as they take on the Indiana Diesels at 1:05 pm. It will be hat night for fans. For more on the Central Illinois Drive, visit www.drivehoops.com and visit the Premier Basketball League at www.thepbl.com. All games can be heard on WJBC Online.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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